Mud, Rock, Blazes by Heather "Anish" Anderson

 I love hiking and I love hiking books! And this is an interesting one by a very driven woman. Her descriptions of how she drives herself to her edge every single day of her hike is amazing to read. I enjoyed the external challenges of bears, snakes, blisters, storms, lightning, and all the rest. But the internal, mental challenges were even more interesting to read about.

Anish had already captured the Fastest Known Time on the Pacific Crest Trail, but she somehow told herself that was a fluke. She felt like an imposter. She wasn't really an athlete. So she took this FKT challenge on to probe to herself she could also do it on the AT. And wow, does she ever. She definitely explores her inner drive and landscape very deeply. Her soul and body come together in an interesting way. I have never driven myself this way, but it's interesting to read about the body's limits. She seeks to find her body's limits, and then goes beyond. Somehow it makes fascinating reading.

I want to hike part of this trail! But next month I want to hike in California! Maybe it's time for me to move beyond this type of book and get an actual guide book for these trails that I want to take on. I'm pretty sure I"m not a through-hiker, but I'm most anxious to be a section hiker! In the meantime, I hike in Snow Canyon State Park and Zion National Park on a regular basis. I can do 5-9 miles without a pack very nicely. I love how that feels! I'm having trouble finding people who want to hike as much as I do; most want to do five or so miles at the most. Usually that's okay, but I"d like to push on a little harder. On Wednesday, my friend Diana Lemmon and her brother Andy and I are going to hike THE NARROWS in Zion. We'll see how long I last on that one! Woohoo!

February 2026 - Searching for something handy to take to the hospital while waiting for Len's heart procedure. It was the perfect, get-away kind of read for that!

Anish is a phenomenal hiker, and I loved reading again about the internal struggle and understanding she gained from challenging her assumptions and internal voices. She wins! And I looked her up last night after finishing this one, and she has a third book out. AND, she's still hiking! Good for her!

So happy I hung on to this book to read again. I'm not hiking very vigorously these days, but I still do what I can and I still LOVE it! My internal struggles and voices are different, but this courageous book helps me face my own more honestly, I think. Grateful for good writers and brave truth-tellers and people who strive to stretch the limits of what they think they can do. I'm trying to achieve my first pull-up, and I will continue the striving! I will do it someday! I'm up about four inches after months of strength training. I will do it!!!!